The Albanese government has been accused of trying to fast-track a growing citizenship backlog to increase the number of new voters before Australians head to the polls.
The claims come as councils report growing pressure from the Department of Home Affairs to increase the number of ceremonies, despite waiting lists already stretched.
Council waiting lists have continued to grow alongside record migration, with almost 250,000 net permanent and long-term arrivals recorded between January and May this year.
Independent NSW Upper House MP Rod Roberts said governments had historically increased the pace of citizenship ceremonies in the lead-up to elections.
“They are trying to mint new voters,” Mr Roberts told the Daily Telegraph.
“People come into the country, get their citizenship, receive their benefits and feel obliged to repay the government in some way.”
He said an estimated backlog of around 300,000 prospective citizens represented a significant voting bloc.
“It certainly makes you wonder why the government is pushing so hard to get these new citizens in so quickly,” he said.
Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun said the Department of Home Affairs had contacted the council within the past fortnight requesting more ceremonies.
Mr Mannoun said councils were already managing substantial waiting lists.
He argued criticism from opposition parties over the increase in citizenship ceremonies could ultimately benefit Labor politically.
“If opposition parties were complaining about the number of new citizens being inducted that would certainly push these people to vote Labor.”
Former Cumberland mayor and current councillor Steve Christou said the scale of ceremonies had expanded considerably.
“When I was mayor from 2019 to December 2021, council held one citizenship session a month,” he said.
“Council now holds two to three sessions per citizenship ceremony. This is a significant increase.”
A Department of Home Affairs spokeswoman told the Daily Telegraph that the government was working to reduce delays for approved applicants.
She confirmed the department regularly liaised with councils about ceremony capacity.
“The department actively engages with councils on the number of approved applicants waiting for a ceremony,” she said.
She said monthly reports were shared with councils covering current waiting lists and expected future approvals.
The latest concerns come months after Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke faced criticism over the scheduling of large citizenship ceremonies before the federal election.
In February, Home Affairs Department Secretary Stephanie Foster revealed Mr Burke had asked officials to organise ceremonies around his availability.
“He asked us to schedule … ceremonies, and obviously gave us a window of availability,” Ms Foster said at the time.
Those events, held at Sydney Olympic Park, saw about 4,500 people become Australian citizens just weeks before voters went to the polls.
The ceremonies drew political criticism because many of the new citizens lived in key western Sydney electorates.
Independent Fowler MP Dai Le accused Mr Burke of turning the occasions into campaign events and claimed she was excluded despite representing many of the new citizens attending.
Mr Burke rejected the criticism at the time and defended efforts to reduce waiting times.
“I’ve often said that if I had my way we’d have citizenship ceremonies every day,” he said.
This comes after an Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) analysis of Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures found net permanent and long-term arrivals reached 483,410 in the 12 months to May, the highest figure for the 12 months to May ever recorded.
Australia welcomed 25,580 net permanent and long-term arrivals in the month of May, which meant net permanent and long-term arrivals totalled 248,780 between January and May.
This was the strongest start to a calendar year since records began.
The figures come less than a month after separate ABS population data showed net overseas migration added 300,960 people to Australia’s population in the year to December.